


We're Doing What We Can

by shakespearespaz



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 09:05:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shakespearespaz/pseuds/shakespearespaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the team tries to settle back into domestic life, Rachel wants to give something back to them. Mildly fluffy/cheesy, a sort of continuation of "Why Comes Not Death."</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're Doing What We Can

Rachel was more comfortable working on a microscopic level, but by sheer determination she would succeed, no matter how many times she accidently jammed her finger between two gears to draw blood.

She wanted to give something back at least, find lost smiles among the solemn faces of their misshapen family. The transition had been rough; they turned corners expecting to see the flash of a blue uniform, not a pleasant but cautious neighbor.

Portland had sounded unromantic when she first mentioned it.

A rainy and grey city they had expected, but the green landscape and mild weather produced a hospitable home. The nature of the citizens had helped make it one of the few urban areas that did not erupt into deathly chaos; before the Blackout it had attracted all manner of individuals prepared to try out alternative lifestyles. It fell peaceably into the folds of the California Commonwealth, which was perhaps the only government rising out of the ashes of America that adapted quickly and well, offering roads, protection, even a fledgling postal service.

Aaron was all too ready to leave behind the terror and the hiking. Nora had taken more convincing, but as she watched Charlie turn away to follow her mother, she decided that one day she would be able to forgive herself if she abandoned a hopeless cause.

Rachel had done what she needed, preventing anyone from ever having power again, and Miles was right (unsurprisingly or surprisingly, she could never decide). Let Georgia, Texas and Monroe burn each other to the ground, what could they really do with ammo running low and only sticks and stones to throw at each other? There was no need to lose another Danny to the endless circle of violence.

Bass was unfinished business, but Rachel knew that Miles let him dangle unresolved in his heart for her; he owed her that much.

Still, Charlie was not distracted enough to banish the shadow of her brother from the sight of their unconventional family. He should have been finding jobs in their small suburb with the rest of them, helping them teach Aaron to ride a bike, rushing to help take in laundry as it started to pour, convincing Rachel she should leave the cooking to others in their community.

He wasn’t the only ghost around their candlelit table (Ben, Maggie, Mia, Priscilla, Bass), but he was the one whose absence was always seen.

That was why Rachel bloodied her fingers yet again, hoping that the fruits of her labor might bring some joy to the calm but often melancholy existence they had found in a small cul-de-sac.

The clockwork motor had taken her over a month to fix, pouring over books she had found tucked away in the library. She had not expected the layer of dust that had settled over the volumes, given their newfound usefulness in this world.

The design had taken some reimagining, but her brain worked like that. Give her a clear end goal and she could figure it out. The actual pieces were harder to acquire, but junk tended to be in surplus and she’d discovered the key mechanism among the abandoned but ravished antique stores located in and around the city.  

She had thought about taking Charlie with her on her searches, but she wanted to surprise them. Besides, their bond was still shaky, although it grew stronger every day they learned more and discussed what each had been through.

In a little over three months, Rachel had finished.

She gently set it on the table one night after dinner; dusk hadn’t quite left the room and evening rays filled their small home with a healthy glow.

Her surprise would have been unrecognizable to most people in the room anyway, but having to create it from scratch gave it an especially unique look. A little like the odd assembly of individuals gathered around the small space, Rachel wanted to think.

Miles thought he knew, smirking at her with a curious eyebrow.

“Is that?”

She wound it up, delicately placed the black disk she had been saving and brought the needle down, crossing her fingers that the static would give way to—

The Beatles drifted softly out of her makeshift phonograph.

Aaron began to smile. A memory drifted across Nora’s face. Charlie tried to recall if she remembered at all the world such sounds belonged to.

She decided it wasn’t important. The world that mattered was here and now.

“I like it,” she blurted out, the soft chords spreading a wide beam across her usually tired face.

“Great, my niece likes The Beatles.”

“It’s The Beatles, Miles. They’re a classic,” Rachel teased.

There was an awkward pause as it moved to the next track.

Nora dragged Charlie to her feet.

“Let’s dance.”

“This is awesome, Rachel,” Aaron exclaimed, “How?”

“You can talk geek talk when I’m not here,” Miles told him, reaching in to secure Rachel by the waist.

They swayed together as Nora and Charlie danced like idiots around the room to the scratchy notes of “Twist and Shout.”

Rachel watched her daughter over his shoulder.

“She’s smiling.”

“You’re smiling,” he answered.

She looked up at him.

“And you. I thought the sentimentality would make you cringe.”

The song changed again. _Here comes the sun, do do do…_

Miles rolled his eyes.

“Oh now, this is just cheesy.”

_Here comes the sun, and I say it’s alright_

“What will the neighbors think of your choice in music?” Rachel played along in mock shock.

“Well, seeing how all they have is an out of tune cello and I have a genius...”

_Little darling, it’s been a long, cold lonely winter_

She held him a little tighter.

“Thank you.”

“You’re not really that—”

“Thank you,” she repeated, “You know what for.”

_Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been clear_

It was hardly enough to fill the still gaping hole in each of them.

But hands grasped hands and Nora and Charlie’s youthfulness was relentless as they swung their friends across the room. It was enough to know that there was another person there, ready to catch and laugh and fall with them.

Maybe Miles was correct and he could never make things right. Neither could Rachel or Aaron or Nora or even hopeful Charlie.

But together, Rachel realized, as she wove her hand through her daughter’s hair that night, kissing her softly as the exhausted young woman slept in peace for the first time in a long while, together they had a chance.

Together, Rachel knew, as Miles refused to let her out of his arms, prepared to stay and be the man he never thought he could be, together, maybe they could find the light in this world again.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize that "Here Comes the Sun" makes me sentimental and break out the cheese. Really though, they deserve some happiness (and I see other domestic fics and think that Rachel is feeling very left out).


End file.
